The present invention relates to a tubular container particularly for food products.
In the field of food products it is known to use, especially for packaging products which have a generally parallelepipedal shape, so called tubular wrappings, which are manufactured starting from a continuous band, one surface of which, hereinafter indicated as "inner surface", is suitable for making contact with the products to be wrapped and has two peripheral longitudinal regions covered by respective layers of heat-weldable adhesive material.
Generally, said products are packaged by arranging them in succession in contact with the inner surface of the band, which is then folded transversely until the layers of adhesive material of said two peripheral longitudinal regions are moved into mutual contact so as to define, once they are subjected to a heat-welding operation, a continuous tubular container which is laterally provided with a flap which is constituted by the mutually welded opposite longitudinal edges of the band.
Said continuous tubular container is subsequently cut in portions which are welded at their ends and have a preset length; each portion defines a tubular fluid-tight wrapping for a related product.
For many food products packaged in the above described manner it is necessary to produce said wrappings so that they are particularly easy to open and so that their opening does not entail the complete destruction of said wrappings, a part of which must remain preferably intact and protect the related products until they are eaten.
This need is normally met by transversely applying, on each wrapping, a tear-strip which allows to easily divide said wrapping into two parts. In order to allow the opening of the wrapping, the strip has one end which extends outside said mutually welded longitudinal edges of the band.
Generally, said strips are constituted by, or covered with, heat-weldable material, so as to initially allow their application onto the continuous band by means of a heat-welding operation and subsequently, by means of a second lo previously mentioned heat-welding operation, so as to allow the execution of the tubular container, which affects not only the longitudinal edges of the continuous band but also the end of the strips which is interposed between said longitudinal edges.
The above described known tubular wrappings have the disadvantage of requiring, for their manufacture, a succession of operations involving heat, which can entail a deterioration of the packaged products.